Mentoring is a common practice in higher education institutions and scientific fields. Undergraduates approach faculty members who are working on topics that match their research interests. We conducted a study to compile a qualitative synthesis of research on the mentorship experience of undergraduate science students with faculty mentors. We…

Researchers are increasingly using academic profile websites (APWs) to organize and showcase their research outputs. Using the faculty at the science departments of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada as the study object, this research explores how science researchers used four APWs: ResearchGate, Google Scholar Citations, Academia.edu, and…

We share a case study on our use of three reflective questions to demonstrate ways in which simple questions can be coded to reveal rich evidence of impact and engagement. At the end of a three-hour inclusive teaching practices workshop for 23 faculty and administrators from a single science department, 22 participants completed an anonymous…

The phenomenon of embedding Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES) in science departments is well documented. However, the perspectives of academic leaders have not been systematically studied. To investigate these perspectives, we conducted an interview study of college of science deans in the California State University system, which…

The Academic WorkForce Survey has been conducted every two years since 1986. Between March and June 2018, researchers contacted 797 physics and astronomy departments (including 39 astronomy-only departments) that award a bachelor's degree or higher in physics or astronomy. Responses were received from 720 institutions, a 90% response rate. This…

In any academic department, faculty members retire or leave for a variety of reasons, and new faculty members are hired to replace departing faculty or fill newly created positions. This report focuses on departures, retirements, recruitments, and new hires in physics and astronomy departments. In our Academic Workforce Surveys, we collect the…

In response to the need for a scalable, institutionally supported model of educational change, the Science Education Initiative (SEI) was created as an experiment in transforming course materials and faculty practices at two institutions--University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and University of British Columbia. We find that this departmentally…

Relationships with colleagues have the potential to be a source of support for faculty to make meaningful change in how they teach, but the impact of these relationships is poorly understood. We used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the characteristics of faculty who provide colleagues with teaching resources and facilitate change in…

Between March and July 2010, each of the 796 departments that awarded at least a bachelor's degree in physics or astronomy were contacted by e-mail, mail, and certified mail. Follow-up contacts were made for departments that had not yet responded. Responses were received from 744 departments (93%). The percentage of women among physics…

The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, assess life sciences departments' progress toward implementation of the principles of the "Vision and Change report." This paper reports on the development of the rubrics, their validation, and their reliability in measuring departmental change aligned with the "Vision and…

Women of color are deeply underrepresented in physics. Between 2002 and 2012, only 1% of graduating physics majors were Black women and another 1% were Latinas; only 61 American Indian women total completed degrees in physics in those years (out of 48,000 physics majors). This isolation can lead to additional obstacles that women of color majoring…

While most studies on diverse organizations have been directed at business organizations, the academic sector has also become increasingly international and heterogeneous. Few large-scale studies have investigated multicultural academic departments and none of those have dealt with diversity and group processes. Therefore, a survey was directed…

Joint work among academic staff is important for solving the ever-increasing number of complex tasks that are becoming part of everyday activities in higher education. At the same time, diversification and internationalisation may challenge collaboration processes and communication demands. Speaking a shared language consistently could be a way of…

Efforts to improve science education include university science departments hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), scientists who take on specialized roles in science education within their discipline. Although these positions have existed for decades and may be growing more common, few reports have investigated the SFES…

Between March 20 and July 8, 2008 (the spring semester of 2008), the authors contacted each of the 763 departments in the US that award at least a bachelor's degree in physics by e-mail, mail, and certified mail. They received responses from 713 departments (93%). This report describes their findings. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)